Thanks for the link, Leigh.  For anyone who’s interested in the history of skyscrapers, I recommend a book called “Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark” by John Tauranac.  It tells the story of how John J. Raskob, a millionaire investor who was chiefly responsible for the founding of GMAC got into a sort of competition with Walter P. Chrysler (of Chrysler Corporation fame) to see who could build the world’s tallest building. 

An interesting feature of the ESB is that its top spire was originally designed as a mooring mast for rigid airships (dirigibles), an idea that turned out to be impractical from an engineering standpoint.

Regards,
Scott Perry